Day 4 Blog (Tuesday, June 14)
AUA Delegates, Drs. Hans Arora and Jason Jameson; AUA Resident/Fellow Section Delegate, Dr. Ruchika Talwar; and AUA Gallagher Scholar Dr. Brian Duty joined hundreds of physicians at the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates (HoD) 2022 Annual Meeting to consider resolutions and reports covering clinical practice, payment, medical education and public health topics. View our previous updates from the meeting.
On June 14, the AUA delegates spent the day in the general session where the House debated and voted on various measures relating to Reference Committee A (Medical Service) and Reference Committee B (Legislation). Here are some of the reports and resolutions of interest:
- Resolution 014 – Healthcare Equity Through Informed Consent and a Collaborative Healthcare Model for the Gender Diverse (Women Physician Section)
- The House adopted an alternative resolution that maintained the original intent of the measure urging AMA to support shared decision making between gender diverse individuals, their families, their primary care physician, and a multidisciplinary team of physicians and other health care professionals. However, changes reflected concerns regarding the conflation between DSD and transgendered patients. Dr. Arora spoke to this particular issue during reference committee deliberations, where he urged the term “medically unnecessary surgeries” be deleted from the original resolution.
- Resolution 101 – Fertility Preservation Benefits for Active-Duty Military Personnel (Young Physicians Section)
- The House adopted an amended version of Res. 101, keeping the key tenets in which the AUA was supportive of during reference committee deliberations. The second resolve was altered to reflect gamete preservation in TRICARE for activated reservist military personnel.
- Resolution 211 – Repeal or Modification of the Medicare Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) Program (American Academy of Neurology)
- The House adopted an alternative resolution that upheld the measure’s main tenet to continue advocating to delay implementation of the Medicare AUC Program until, among other things, technical and workflow challenges that add to clinicians’ administrative burden and practice expenses are addressed. The AUA was an original cosponsor of Res. 211 and was a strong supporter on the House floor.
- Resolution 223 – National Drug Shortages of Lidocaine and Saline Preparations (American Academy of Dermatology)
- This measure was amended (and passed) to also reflect shortages in iodinated contrast media. AUA was supportive of these changes because urologists can use this agent during tests of the urinary tract.
- Resolution 226 – Coverage for Clinical Trial Ancillary Costs (Association for Clinical Oncology)
- This resolution passed the House with overwhelming support, which asks the AMA to actively advocate for federal and state legislation that would allow coverage of non-clinical ancillary costs by sponsors of clinical trials. The AUA testified in support as it aligns with a similar request made by urologists and other urologic professionals on Capitol Hill during the Annual Urology Advocacy Summit, when they requested legislators cosponsor the DIVERSE Trials Act (H.R. 5030/S. 2706).
- Resolution 240 – Physician Payment Reform & Equity (multiple stakeholders)
- The House merged several Medicare payment-related resolutions and passed a newly created measure addressing the critically important issue of permanent reforms to the Medicare physician payment system. Reforms should be consistent with the AMA policy and in accordance with the principles (Characteristics of a Rational Medicare Payment System) endorsed by over 120 state and medical specialty Federation of Medicine members, including the AUA.
Tomorrow, the House finishes up its business by continuing to consider reports and resolutions from Reference Committee A (Medical Service) and Reference Committee E (Science & Technology).